In Memoriam
by WickedGame
Summary: It's a time to remember those you have loved and lost and time to let go of the past.


Title: In Memoriam

Author: WickedGame

Archive: No Rest For the Wicked, my LJ

Category: angst, drama

Pairings: 1+2+1, 3+4+3, 5+R (or 12, 34 depending on comm or ML)

Rating: PG or T

Warnings: angsty, spoilers for Episode Zero manga

Notes: Written because it is Memorial Day in the states and I found it necessary. Not beta read because I wanted to post it today and did not see any glaring mistakes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing nor any of its characters.

"_Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal."- From a headstone in Ireland_

"_The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree." - Thomas Campbell_

Five men watched the fireworks explode in the sky and listening to the old fashioned cannons being fired. They all stood together on the stage next to Dorothy and Relena and were fighting back tears that threatened to spill in memory.

When the fireworks were done showering the crowd with sparkles and light and the cannons were done booming and splashing into the water of the bay Relena stepped up to the microphone and cleared her throat.

"Tonight we have all gathered as an inter-planetary and inter-colonial family to celebrate the end of a war that should have never happened. Tonight we have gathered to honor those whom we loved and those whom we lost to violence and to cause.

I cannot describe to you the feelings I have running through me right now: love, fear, faith, hope, anger, and righteousness all war with many feeling to which there can never be names. I have such hope for our future but fear that distance immensely. How can this be?

While I can sit here and point to so many examples of how we have grown since the war I can also see so many areas in which we have diminished. Animosity towards soldiers is at odds with soldier's guilt and acting out as a result of trauma from the war. I do so wish that I could help every one of you. I wish I could calm the fears of the prejudice and slay the demons inside the soldier…but I am not God.

I wish for everyone to take this night to reflect on who you are, where they have been, and where they are going in the future. Remember and cry for those you have lost, and kiss and hug those whom you still have within reach. Place a flower on the grave or wherever you choose and send a spoken sentiment upwards and onwards in the hopes that the person it's intended for will hear it.

Remember who we are, and remember always who they were. They were brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, lovers, and everything in-between. Remember and love them always. Thank you."

Wufei helped Relena down from the podium, and Dorothy took up her place on Relena's other side. They passed the other pilots and led a procession off the stage.

&&&

Five men and two women gathered in the garden of the Peacecraft Estate, surrounding a small patch of earth that had been freshly tilled and fertilized. A hole had been dug in the middle, large enough to deposit things in.

"I figured since none of us had tangible graves to visit to remember those we have lost that we would use this spot to remember from now on. I'll go first." Relena stepped forward with a small pearl necklace in her hand. "My adopted father was a great man. He did great things and tried his hardest to raise me correctly. Though I am sometimes mad that he did not tell me about the Peacecraft's while he was still alive I am working through it. And even though most the world knows me as Relena Darlian-Peacecraft now in my heart I will always be just Relena Darlian."

Relena tossed the necklace into the hole and stepped back. Dorothy, emboldened by Relena's words, stepped forward next with a silver spoon in hand. "I was born with this in my mouth. Most of my life I clung to it, feeding off it like it was something I was entitled to instead of a gift. I will always resent the part of me that relished in war and death, but now I have come to realize that I am who I am, and I can be nothing more."

After Dorothy threw her silver spoon in Wufei stepped forward, to some surprise. In his hand he held a gold ring. A tear coursed its way down his cheek and dripped off his chin. "I still blame myself. She died, and even thought the years have taught me it is not my fault I still have yet to let go of the notion that I had something to do with it. This was her wedding ring. I think it is time I let go of it and of my guilt. After all, I am going to devote my life to someone else now." Wufei gave Relena a small smile and tossed the ring in.

"I never had a real name," Trowa stepped forward with a mask he had made in his hand, "until I met Quatre. I had worn the mask of someone with no name, and then I had worn the mask of Trowa Barton the former pilot. It wasn't until he spoke my name that it had any meaning to me. With him it gained meaning and it gained feeling and it gained hope. It was no longer a mask, and I was all of a sudden a person and not a performer."

The mask joined the other things in the hole as Quatre squeezed Trowa's hand. Quatre held a doctor's report in his hand. He looked at it and teared up before holding it out. "I always thought I was a test tube baby, just like all my sisters. My father let me grow up knowing this to prevent me knowing the truth. The truth was that my mother wanted so badly to give birth naturally that she conceived me in secret and then died while having me. But I have held onto this report since shortly after the war. I have read it over and over and asked my father why, even though he is long since dead. But I now refuse to acknowledge that guilt. I refuse to do anything but forgive my father. He was a man forced to make many difficult choices in his life and he was bound to slip up sometime."

Duo watched the paper flutter into the hole as he stepped forward. "I never knew my mother and father. The closest things I had to family were the orphans I grew up with and the people at the orphanage that took me in. That was until I met all of you. Since then you have become all the family I need. I do not have many possessions but I do have the memories of those I have loved and lost. But thanks to the family I have now I can let go of the memories I have held onto for so long and I can start living for now." The others gasped as Duo took out a sharp knife and slices his braid off, severing it at the nape of his neck. Heero betrayed nothing as the long hunk of hair landed in the pile.

Heero took out an old gun, one that showed signs of disuse. "I was raised by an assassin named Odin Lowe. Odin Lowe shot and killed my namesake before he took me on as a protégé. This was the gun he had on his person when he passed away in front of me. I took it off of him and kept it in a safe while I worked my way to where I am now. Odin Lowe was the closest thing to a father that I ever had. He never showed affection, and he never treated me as anything but a business associate but he did give me the best piece of advice I have ever received. He taught me to follow my emotions and if I had ignored that advice then I may not have met any of you and I may not have said the things I have said to certain people. So for that I forgive Odin Lowe." Heero tossed the gun in and turned to grab a shovel.

Each person tossed a shovel-full of soil onto the small pile of things and then Relena grabbed the sapling the gardener had purchased for her. She held onto the small olive tree and let everyone else shovel in the soil and pat it down gently. They backed away and then Dorothy used a hose to soak the ground.

"Peace is found in the olive branch. Peace is found in letting go of the past. Peace is found in always remembering the people who have shaped and changed you. Peace is finding love when you weren't expecting it." Relena walked away with Wufei and Dorothy in tow.

"Well, what do we do now?" Duo asked as they walked to the car they had used to get here.

"We'll see when we get there." Quatre smiled and climbed into the driver's seat.

-The End-


End file.
